Please oh please make that DLC fail hard. Predesigned, scripted missions is the last thing I want from this game (ok, next to last. I want more multiplayer features even less), and if Firaxis continues thinking that they are the easiest way for them to earn extra money on the game we can probably wave any other DLC ideas goodbye. No extra, random maps. No additional aliens. No expanded skill trees. Instead we'll be left with a few barely replayable missions that will appear every time you play the game.

Thanks, but no thanks.

+1

I wouldn't mind seeing them offer more single player maps, a few more different mission types and maybe a danger room type facility that lets you keep playing skirmish missions after the game ends

we can probably wave any other DLC ideas goodbye. No extra, random maps. No additional aliens. No expanded skill trees.

*votes for tilt to be dev lead on the next xcom dlc package *

id even say to hell with game balance to toss in a few new research + r&d items - maybe some off the wall type stuff that would have made us cringe first go around, but as bonus content flips the game on its head for a new experience.

Please oh please make that DLC fail hard. Predesigned, scripted missions is the last thing I want from this game (ok, next to last. I want more multiplayer features even less), and if Firaxis continues thinking that they are the easiest way for them to earn extra money on the game we can probably wave any other DLC ideas goodbye. No extra, random maps. No additional aliens. No expanded skill trees. Instead we'll be left with a few barely replayable missions that will appear every time you play the game.

Thanks, but no thanks.

+1

I wouldn't mind seeing them offer more single player maps, a few more different mission types and maybe a danger room type facility that lets you keep playing skirmish missions after the game ends

I second your "danger room" idea. Many people love the tactical battles but don't particularly care for the base stuff (or, like me, just aren't all that good at it), and some skirmish feature seems like a no-brainer.

I agree that I'd rather see at least a few new maps that feed into the general campaign and that will give you a few fresh looks. However, it sounds like what they're doing with these new missions/maps is noticeably different than the core campaign. From the Joystiq piece:

Quote

In addition to the new locales, the missions promise more varied objectives, which DeAngelis says are "riffs on some of the existing gameplay objectives," but with "new mechanics."

The missions will be offered via the shadowy Council in the single-player campaign. In fact, it will be the first Council mission offered in a new game, though players can choose to tackle it at any time once it is offered. Incidentally, starting a new game will be the only way to access the Slingshot missions, though the rewards may be worth it (more on that in a bit).

Why add missions instead of new aliens or weapons? Council missions are "a good way of offering new stuff to the player that doesn't distort the core experience," says Gupta. "If we add new weapons and new tech, then we're expanding the tech tree, and that adds research time – and that's on a fairly finely balanced pinpoint right now." XCOM, he says, is unforgiving of players that fall behind in research, and adding even more options to the existing tech tree could be problematic.

Instead Firaxis decided to allow players to unlock an existing piece of tech much earlier in the game than would normally be possible. Specifically, the DLC offers early access to the incredibly powerful Blaster Launcher. Normally, players won't research the Blaster Launcher until very late in the game (if they research it at all), so completing Slingshot definitely comes with a concrete reward. Zhang himself is something of a reward, with Gupta referring to him as a "hero" character

Regardless of my personal preference (i.e., not sure I'm up for this DLC either), I want the game to succeed. It has remained on top of the Steam sales chart for a while now, and it's great.

So what do you wish for if you want an expanded tech tree and a batch of new campaign maps? Probably a full, separate expansion (so they don't fret about screwing up the original campaign) or... a sequel. Please don't set it underwater...

Now that I've had a night to process the ending, I had a few questions.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Are there multiple endings? If my sniper hadn't double tapped and killed the boss immediately, would that have triggered a different ending? As it was dying it said something like, "This is not the path for you", and then all the enemies died and vanished. My pysch sensitive ended up being the hero by guiding the big alien mothership into space before it exploded.

I'm wondering if I had killed all of the enemies but saved the boss for last, or even tried to capture him if the ending would have been different? Has anyone tried that approach?

Nope. Same ending I got. Same one that's on Youtube.

Thanks. You saved me from playing from my last save to see if the ending changed. I want to jump right back in, but I have so many other games in my backlog.

Still have gripes about unpossible shots being made by aliens in classic.

Question: How does over watch work if on a turn an alien comes to a corner and shoots. Is overwatch (unless you take the ability as support) only if the alien moves? I had an alien shoot from around the corner while I had 3 characters on overwatch.

ALso the free turn that aliens get is ridiculous. They can walk right into the middle of my squad, trigger the 'first contact' animation, and then calmly walk back to cover even though I have overwatch on. Lame!

Still have gripes about unpossible shots being made by aliens in classic.

Do you really think a 20 percentile difference between Normal and Classic in alien hit chance is the reason your soldiers are being hit? Really?

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Question: How does over watch work if on a turn an alien comes to a corner and shoots. Is overwatch (unless you take the ability as support) only if the alien moves? I had an alien shoot from around the corner while I had 3 characters on overwatch.

You more or less answered your own question. What would be the point of the support ability if aliens always trigger overwatch by shooting? Only movement triggers it, and only if your characters have line of sight and are within range.

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ALso the free turn that aliens get is ridiculous. They can walk right into the middle of my squad, trigger the 'first contact' animation, and then calmly walk back to cover even though I have overwatch on. Lame!

No they can't. At this point you're deliberately exaggerating, or even outright lying, about your experiences, unless you hit one hell of a serious bug that nobody else has seen. Their movement, first contact or not, always triggers overwatch. If your soldiers aren't firing, they're either not on overwatch they don't have line of sight, they are out of range, they are out of ammo, or any combination of the above.

Still have gripes about unpossible shots being made by aliens in classic.

Do you really think a 20 percentile difference between Normal and Classic in alien hit chance is the reason your soldiers are being hit? Really?

Yep. I do. Cause it's happening. Full cover, hunkered down. Through a car, a wall and a rock. Zeroed.

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You more or less answered your own question. What would be the point of the support ability if aliens always trigger overwatch by shooting? Only movement triggers it, and only if your characters have line of sight and are within range.

Thanks.

Quote

No they can't. At this point you're deliberately exaggerating, or even outright lying, about your experiences, unless you hit one hell of a serious bug that nobody else has seen.

You're being a real dick. Sorry if your mom programmed the game. But it happened.

Actually, yes. 20% is huge bonus, but it's not the reason why soldiers are being hit, it's the reason why enemies are making extremely difficult shots with higher rates of success. 20% is very significant in any game, reduce that to a base 10 system and enemies are hitting 2 times more often out of every 10 shots.

There is an ability for one of the classes that allows Overwatch shots to be triggered by shooting (sadly it happens after shooting).

There is a problem with initial movement and alien groups that are patrolling, there's also bugged movement that also causes aliens to appear out of nowhere, trigger the Discovered cutscene, and then the aliens get extra movement to get setup.

And just because that initial movement aliens get can trigger overwatch, doesn't mean it's not a bit imbalanced to get extra movement. On the other hand, they do need to do something to make enemies get into cover or else those clusters of enemies standing in the open would quickly get killed. I would have preferred that you could actually get the drop on some enemies, but once the fighting starts you tend to find enemies already in cover and waiting and without extra movement.

The most likely reason why overwatch isn't triggered on some Alien Discovery movement is that since you're discovering aliens on the edges of your squad's vision, it's unlikely that anyone besides the guy who moved forward and spotted the aliens are in shooting range. Being on more urban or dense maps changes things up though.

I've had good success with setting squad sight snipers to overwatch when moving forward, or at least I think I have. Not sure if squad sight works for overwatch and I haven't played or specifically tested it.

Really not sure why you're getting so heated about decent critique of XCOM's flaws. We all here pretty much love the game, but there are definitely flaws. To me, I'd love a difficulty setting between Normal and Classic that has limited resources and more (and tougher) enemies like Classic, but without the extra accuracy and damage.

See, that's the thing. It's not decent, or even accurate. ATB is claiming that the game works in a way which it most certainly doesn't, and if he's encountering a bug, I find it very odd that nobody but him has seen it and mentioned it. My impression is that, quite frankly, he's not very good at the game and that this leads him to attack the game to justify his losses. The reason this annoys me isn't because he's wrong. It's because his flawed perception of the game can rub off on people who haven't played it yet, perhaps even pushing them towards not getting the game in the first place. That I simply can't accept, and I will defend the game and point out flaws in his arguments to prevent it. If this in turn makes me a dick, then a dick I will be.

I've had good success with setting squad sight snipers to overwatch when moving forward, or at least I think I have. Not sure if squad sight works for overwatch and I haven't played or specifically tested it.

this! ya, you get a shot off when the aliens appear and i think turtle probably hit your problem (though tilts LOS is also possible).

its also better to have guys at opposite ends of the formation in overwatch - as if you have one side or one area "stacked" all the soldiers will probably fire at one target - like in the military you want all angles covered and you dont want eyes on all in one dense area - better to have overwatch trigger on the spot you think the alien is going to run to rather than the initial contact - if you have a tight group on overwatch you risk them all firing at one alien. this is why i like moderately fanning out, and cover points over a few tiles long - i KNOW if i have a guy on the far right of the cover, hes likely not going to be one of about 3 guys popping off a shot on a single alien that i uncover in the center of the screen, but he WILL fire at the alien who breaks off to the side for "safety"!

See, that's the thing. It's not decent, or even accurate. ATB is claiming that the game works in a way which it most certainly doesn't, and if he's encountering a bug, I find it very odd that nobody but him has seen it and mentioned it. My impression is that, quite frankly, he's not very good at the game and that this leads him to attack the game to justify his losses. The reason this annoys me isn't because he's wrong. It's because his flawed perception of the game can rub off on people who haven't played it yet, perhaps even pushing them towards not getting the game in the first place. That I simply can't accept, and I will defend the game and point out flaws in his arguments to prevent it. If this in turn makes me a dick, then a dick I will be.

Being a dick has nothing to do with defending the game and pointing out flaws in someone's argument. It is about tone. Even though we are just typing and therefore lose a lot of the subtle indicators of conversation tone still comes out in posts.

No one will ask you to stop defending the game or pointing out flaws in someone's argument we will ask that you don't be a dick in your tone they are different things.

I will say that for me the game is very punishing on classic difficulty. You really do need to start being more careful about how you move your troops and all your skills, especially in the early game. And it is disheartening to see the aliens continually make shots from a pretty far distance that your soldiers would have missed. It is supposed to be a challenge, and others might be up to for it, but for me it stopped being fun really soon and now I'm on a normal ironman game.

See, that's the thing. It's not decent, or even accurate. ATB is claiming that the game works in a way which it most certainly doesn't, and if he's encountering a bug, I find it very odd that nobody but him has seen it and mentioned it. My impression is that, quite frankly, he's not very good at the game and that this leads him to attack the game to justify his losses. The reason this annoys me isn't because he's wrong. It's because his flawed perception of the game can rub off on people who haven't played it yet, perhaps even pushing them towards not getting the game in the first place. That I simply can't accept, and I will defend the game and point out flaws in his arguments to prevent it. If this in turn makes me a dick, then a dick I will be.

Yeah. I'm terrible at the game that's the problem. Finished on normal only losing 11 guys and not a single country and I've never played xcom before. It's my bad play that makes aliens hit targets that should not be able to be hit from impossible angles or through walls or through walls, cover and from across the map.

No no scratch that. I'm lying about the game. The things that I'm saying are happening aren't happening because I want the game not to sell. Even though I bought it and have lauded it post after post.

Yeah. I'm terrible at the game that's the problem. Finished on normal only losing 11 guys and not a single country and I've never played xcom before. It's my bad play that makes aliens hit targets that should not be able to be hit from impossible angles or through walls or through walls, cover and from across the map.

No no scratch that. I'm lying about the game. The things that I'm saying are happening aren't happening because I want the game not to sell. Even though I bought it and have lauded it post after post.

Take your meds, man.

How about not twisting what I'm saying? I'm not talking about the extreme shots when I say you're lying. I'm talking about your claim that aliens walk into the middle of a group of your guys, who are apparently on overwatch, get a free move that makes them walk away, and your guys never fire on them. That's just not happening.

Yeah. I'm terrible at the game that's the problem. Finished on normal only losing 11 guys and not a single country and I've never played xcom before. It's my bad play that makes aliens hit targets that should not be able to be hit from impossible angles or through walls or through walls, cover and from across the map.

No no scratch that. I'm lying about the game. The things that I'm saying are happening aren't happening because I want the game not to sell. Even though I bought it and have lauded it post after post.

Take your meds, man.

How about not twisting what I'm saying? I'm not talking about the extreme shots when I say you're lying. I'm talking about your claim that aliens walk into the middle of a group of your guys, who are apparently on overwatch, get a free move that makes them walk away, and your guys never fire on them. That's just not happening.

i started up a new game, ironman normal and i think im still in the tutorial... thing is i now have a ufo spawning in an area where i have a sat, but no interceptor (i cant actually reassign my ship yet, because... well... im in the tutorial)

so the game is giving me two options 1) intercept which is greyed out because i have no ship there and 2) ignore, which is greyed out because im in the tutorial which sort of forces the player to do certain things and ignore obviously isnt one of them... am i screwed on this game and doomed to reset? or does anyone know of a way out???

Tried an Xcom nexus mod, but it seemed to make the AI dumb even though it says it doesn't. Could have just been lucky circumstances. So I'll give it another shot.

I'm done with classic as it's just poorly implemented. I should not be able to be consistently hit (and i mean CONSISTENTLY!) when I'm on top of a 3rd story building and behind half cover. The angle on the shots is impossible yet, bamf right over the wall it goes into my guy's dome. Multiple times. Meanwhile my hit percentage on them is 30-40%. Ridiculous.

And I had one rookie panic, shoot her squadmate for 4 damage causing him to panic and shoot her for 2. It's just stupid.

I've played maybe 10 mp matches or so. All but two against my brother where we chose the options. They were fun for what they are. Tried a couple matches against random opponents who both quit halfway through when they were losing. Typical I suppose. I would imagine if they had been ranked games, the competition would have been better and they wouldn't have quit early if down a troop or two. That is a guess though, as I've yet to try it. My guess is that people play unranked mostly to test team builds - at least thats what I would imagine its used for.

Logged

LD

"Let your enemies fear, for a harlequin of the Laughing God dances at your side."

I've played maybe 10 mp matches or so. All but two against my brother where we chose the options. They were fun for what they are. Tried a couple matches against random opponents who both quit halfway through when they were losing. Typical I suppose. I would imagine if they had been ranked games, the competition would have been better and they wouldn't have quit early if down a troop or two. That is a guess though, as I've yet to try it. My guess is that people play unranked mostly to test team builds - at least thats what I would imagine its used for.

What level of soldier do you start out with? Does everyone have psi powers and plasma weapons?

Nope. You get a point allotment. Each soldier or alien costs XX points depending on his worth. It's a pretty cool system really. Human soldiers are pretty customizable. The more awesomerrr you make them, the more they cost. Its not very hard to pickup at all.

Logged

LD

"Let your enemies fear, for a harlequin of the Laughing God dances at your side."

heavy plasma weapons were what turned around my thoughts on heavies - they went from being suppression / holo tools to being one of my main damage providers.

are you SURE you researched heavy plasma? there are

Spoiler for Hiden:

three types of plasma - the light plasma and the normal plasma rifle but the one you want your soldiers to use is heavy plasma - i remember it required quite a few extra steps to actually use it but cant remember exactly what it took.

if you want i can check my tech tree in my completed game to see what it eventually took

or youve found a very nasty bug after i found one i wont totally rule it out but i think you might just be off on you tech... *fingers crossed*

Classic difficulty, no ironman, no alien health displays. This was my first game, and it took me a long time. I initially was certain that I was going to lose, despite a nearly flawless mission record, but after the alien base assault I managed to turn things around. My monthly council ratings went: B, C, D, A, A, A.

this! im actually surprised this is the first time its come up and its the way ive been playing all my games! i LOVE that it was included (again, as an OPTION - the toggle options for this game are wonderful). to me, it was essential to maintain the suspense and stress of the game - do you know how many times i held my breath when encountering early game cyberdisks, before my last soldier fired a shot???

also, nice work tilt - i dont know what it was but i lost a TON of soldiers (mostly being sloppy with rookies in the early-mid game trying to level them up). i also scored a victory after having lost several countries early on but maintaining my funding and allies better in the later stages

Classic difficulty, no ironman, no alien health displays. This was my first game, and it took me a long time. I initially was certain that I was going to lose, despite a nearly flawless mission record, but after the alien base assault I managed to turn things around. My monthly council ratings went: B, C, D, A, A, A.

That's awesome TiLT! And only 4 soldiers lost! I tried playing classic for a while but kept on getting smacked around, even with reloads, I finally got two far behind the tech curve so I finally went back to Standard.

I'm enjoying this one, it harkens back to the games of my childhood. The one thing that I really dislike and can't believe they omitted is the lack of a "prone" option. Is it really not available, or have I just not figured it out yet? I just played mission 2 and wanted my sniper to lay low on top of the bus.

The one thing that I really dislike and can't believe they omitted is the lack of a "prone" option. Is it really not available, or have I just not figured it out yet? I just played mission 2 and wanted my sniper to lay low on top of the bus.